1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a stereochemically controlled process for producing 1-betamethyl carbapenem antibiotic intermediates involving reacting a beta lactam with a chiral thia- or oxazolidinone enolate to preferentially produce a beta-methyl intermediate which can be transformed into a carbapenem antibiotic.
2. Brief Description of Disclosures in the Art
Since the discovery of thienamycin, ##STR1## an extremely potent broad spectrum antibiotic, disclosed and claimed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 3,950,357, a large amount of research activity has been conducted in the medicinal chemistry area for other active analogs not having its associated deficiencies, i.e. chemical instability at high concentration and susceptability to renal dipeptidase.
In addition to the N-formimidoyl derivative of thienamycin disclosed and claimed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,047, among some of the more promising analogs that have been developed are the 1-betamethyl compounds of structure (I), i.e., ##STR2## in which the 1-methyl group is in the beta configuration and R is a radical known in the antibiotic art.
Synthesis of the above 1-beta methyl analogs is desired in large quantities for derivatization and pharmacological evaluation and requires introduction of the beta-methyl substituent in a manner designed to yield a high percentage of the beta-methyl intermediate prior to ring closure.
A published procedure by Shih et al. in Heterocycles, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 29-40 (1984) describes a process for alkylating the 4-alkyl side chain of certain in azetidine-2-ones to produce a mixture of the alpha-and beta-methyl epimers in about a 4:1 molar ratio.
Desirably, a pilot plant or commercial synthesis should achieve higher beta/alpha epimeric molar ratios than this.
There are a variety of disclosed processes involving stereoselective aldol condensations including: D. A. Evans et al., JACS Vol. 103, No. 11, 1981, pp. 3099-3114, which describes stereoselective aldol condensations using boron enolates; D. A. Evans et al., JACS (1981), 103, 2129-2131 which describes chiral enolates containing 2-oxazolidinones as chiral auxiliaries in enantioselective aldol condensations; D. A. Evans and L. R. McGee in JACS (1981), 103, pp. 2876-2878, which describes the use of zirconium enolates containing 2-oxazolidinone chiral auxiliaries in erythro-selective aldol condensations; Evans et al. in JACS (1982), Vol. 104, No. 6, pp. 1737-1739, which describes the utility of lithium and sodium enolates derived from N-acyl oxazolidinones in diastereoselective alkylation; P. J. Reider, et al. in Tetrahedron Letters, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 379-382 and 2293-2296 (1982) which describe a method of .beta.-lactam alkylation using 4-acetoxy-2-azetidinone as the alkylating agent and a variety of silyl enol ethers; Yamamoto et al. in Tet. Lett. 1980, 4607-10 discloses the preparation of zirconium enolates from the corresponding lithium enolates and demonstrates their effectiveness in aldol condensations; "Asymmetric Synthesis", Vol. 3, James D. Morrison, Editor, Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1984, Chapter 1, by D. A. Evans, "Stereoselective Alkylation Reactions of Chiral Metal Enolates" describes the utility of chiral enolates broadly in chiral synthesis; . . . Mukaiyama et al. in Chem. Lett. No. 11, pp. 1799-802 (1983); ibid., No. 3, pp. 297-8 (1983); ibid, No. 12, pp. 1903-6 (1982); and JP 77145448, describe 3-acylthiazolidine-2-thiones in enantioselective synthesis; Fujita et al. in Tennen Yuki Kagobutsu Toronka; Koen Yoshishu, Vol. 26, pp. 476-83 (1983) (Japanese) and Acta Crystallogr., Sect. B, 1980, Vol., No. B36, pp. 1709-1710, describe synthetic studies on virginiamycin and 3-(p-bromobenzoyl)-1,3- thiazolidine-2-thione, respectively.
Japanese reference: Kokai 60-19763, Jan. 31, 1985, illustrates related aldol condensation utilizing silyl enol ethers employing non-chiral oxazolidinones.
However, none of these references specifically teach the introduction of a carbon chain onto an azetidinone ring system directly resulting in a carbon chain methyl substituent in the desired beta configuration.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a steroselective process for producing intermediates useful in making 1-betamethylcarbapenem antibiotics. It is further an object of this invention to provide a process for producing intermediates in high yield having the necessary 1-beta methyl sterochemistry, prior to ring closure to the carbapenem ring system, in which the products contain the beta methyl/alpha methyl epimers in a molar ratio greater than one. These and further objects of the invention will become obvious from the accompanying disclosure as set forth herein.